Auto rack rail car with stepped bottom chord and offset body bolster

ABSTRACT

A railroad car utilizing the maximum width and height allowed by the proposed American Association of Railroads proposed clearance Plate K and including body bolster having a top cover plate at a vertical height lower than a height of a stub sill top cover plate adjacent to a striker. The car fits within the profile of the proposed clearance Plate K by including a stepped lower portion in a side assembly. The stub sill top cover plate ramps down to abut the lower height of the body bolster top cover plate. this ramping allows for an increased height of a lower deck of the rail road car longitudinally closer to an end sill than on previous railroad cars.

This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No.60/744,085 filed Mar. 31, 2006.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to railroad freight car structures and moreparticularly to auto rack rail road freight car structures.

BACKGROUND

Certain types of rail cars utilize the maximum heights and/or widthsallowed to maximize lading space. Double-stack cars that were introducedin the 1980s are an example of this type of car. When such aDouble-stack car was loaded with stacked containers, the car body andcontainers exceeded the then available clearance of many sections ofrailways, tunnels, bridges and yards.

The combination of the width of the car body and the length of the carbody between trucks causes clearances problems especially due to theswing-out of the middle of the car as the car travels through thesharpest turns. The height of the containers causes clearancesdifficulties that are partially overcome by lowering the floor of thecar body down to a minimum height, but not too low such as to avoidcausing the floor to hit the rails when loaded and/or when travelingover humped track.

Box cars and Auto Rack cars may also extend out to the maximum allowedclearances. In Auto Rack cars, utilizing the maximum allowed height wascombined with the well-like, low-floor structure of a Double-stack carto create an adjustable multi-deck Auto Rack car as is shown in U.S.Pat. Nos. 5,743,192 to Saxton et al., 5,794,537 to Zaerr et al. and5,979,335 to Saxton et al. and commercially embodied in the Auto-Max®auto rack car built by Gunderson LLC. A cross-sectional view of anAuto-Max® car 20 is shown in FIG. 1 along with the proposed Associationof American Railroads (AAR) clearance Plate K.

AAR clearance plates were developed to ensure that railcars would clearany obstructions on a given track if the car fits within the dimensionsof the clearance plate. The proposed clearance Plate K includes astepped portion 22 near the outer lower corners. This stepped portion 22ensures clearance of a rail car over certain types of equipment found inrail yards, such as wheel retarders, that can protrude up into thatspace. The car 20 is built out to the maximum width and height possibleto allow for multiple configurations of automobiles and trucks to becarried within the car on multiple decks. As is shown in FIG. 1,however, the bottom chord 24 and the lower portion of the side web 26 ofcar 20 extend beyond Plate K into the stepped portion 22.

Another concern for auto rack cars is to maximize the inside height ofthe car body to allow for larger vehicles and/or more configurations andcombinations of vehicles. The Auto-Max® car 20 achieved this by rampingthe A deck 28 down between the trucks 30 to allow for a maximum useableinside height at the middle of the car, as shown in FIG. 2. The A deck28 begins its slant down into the well at the inboard edge 36 of thebolster top cover plate 38 (see FIG. 3). Vehicles are loaded by enteringthe car 20 onto the A deck 28. An end portion of the B deck 40 is hingedat hinge 41 to allow that portion of the B deck 40 to be raised up whilevehicles are loaded onto the A deck 28.

FIG. 3 shows a side elevation view of the combination stub sill/bodybolster assembly 32 of the Auto-Max® car 20. The stub sill 33 is of aconventional type utilizing a coupler 42 that is attached to an End ofCar Cushioning device (not shown) located in the draft pocket 44. Thebody bolster 34 is also a mostly conventional box-type bolster intowhich a center plate 46 is mounted.

As is typical in a conventional stub sill/body bolster arrangement, thestub sill top cover plate 48 is vertically aligned with the body bolstertop cover plate 38 and the stub sill bottom flange 52 is verticallyaligned with the body bolster bottom cover plate 54. Such an arrangementallows for loads to simply transfer to and from the stub sill 33 and thebody bolster 34.

Due to the loading requirements of this type of rail car, however, therelatively thick body bolster top cover plate 38 extends horizontallyinboard. As noted above, the inboard edge 36 of the body bolster topcover plate is the point at which the A deck 28 may begin slantingvertically downward toward the rail. It is the location of this edge 36that sets the horizontal location of the hinge 41, as shown in FIG. 2.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional end elevation view of a previouslymanufactured auto rack car.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional side elevation view of a previouslymanufactured auto rack car.

FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of a combination stub sill and bodybolster of a previously manufactured auto rack car.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional end elevation view of an interface of a sideassembly and a floor assembly in an auto rack car showing a z-shapedbottom chord in the side assembly.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional end elevation view of an interface of a sideassembly and a floor assembly in an auto rack car showing an L-shapedbottom chord in the side assembly.

FIG. 6 is cross-sectional side elevation view of an auto rack car usingan offset body bolster.

FIG. 7 is a side elevation view of a combination stub sill and bodybolster using an offset body bolster.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Disclosed herein is an auto rack rail road car that utilizes the maximumallowed width and height while at the same time has an outer profilethat fits within the AAR proposed clearance Plate K.

Furthermore, a car is presented with an increased inside height of alower deck longitudinally inboard of the stub sill by structuring thebody bolster to be offset vertically downward from the stub sill. Theavailable useable inside height of the lower deck is further increasedby bending a longitudinally inboard portion of the body bolster topcover plate downward. By offsetting the body bolster downward andbending the longitudinally inboard portion of the body bolster top coverplate downward a ramp sloping downward into a between-trucks well areabegins closer to an end sill as compared to a standard stub sill/bodybolster structure. By moving the initial slope closer to the end sill inan auto rack car, the length of hinged portion of an overlying deck maybe decreased, thus making the hinged portion of the overlying decklighter and easier to hinge up and down.

FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional end elevation view of an interface of aside assembly 60 and a floor assembly 62 of an auto rack car 64. The AARproposed clearance Plate K is superimposed over the side and floorassemblies 60, 62.

To avoid extending into the stepped portion 22 of the clearance Plate K,the bottom chord 66 is a z-shaped channel that may be either formed orextruded. The side web 68 slopes laterally inboard to match the slantingportion 70 of Plate K and includes a horizontal leg 72 that affixes to avertical portion 74 of the z-shaped bottom chord 66. The upperhorizontal leg 76 of the bottom chord 66 is affixed to the laterallysloping portion of the side web 68. The floor assembly 62 is affixed tothe lower horizontal leg 80 of the bottom chord 66.

By making the bottom chord 66 z-shaped, the bottom chord avoidsextending outside of the clearance Plate K. The bottom chord carrieslongitudinal loads and supports the floor assembly 62. The width of thefloor assembly 62 and the width between the vertical portion 74 of twoopposing bottom chords 66 may be slightly narrower than that shown inFIG. 1, but this is not problematic because extreme vehicle widths donot typically extend down that low.

FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional end elevation view of an interface ofanother side assembly 61 and a floor assembly 63. In this view, the sideassembly 61 includes an L-shaped bottom chord 67. The side web 68 slopeslaterally inboard to match the slanting portion 70 of Plate K andincludes a formed horizontal leg 72 that affixes to a vertical portion75 of the L-shaped bottom chord 67. The horizontal leg 77 of the bottomchord 67 is affixed to the laterally sloping portion of the side web 68.The floor assembly 63 is affixed to the vertical portion 75 of thebottom chord 67. The floor assembly 63 may be welded to the bottom chord67, fastened to the bottom chord 67 or some combination thereof.

Referring now to FIG. 6, a cross-sectional side elevation view of anauto rack rail car 64 is shown. The car 64 includes a stub sill 82 witha coupler 84 mounted at the appropriate coupler height. The stub silltop cover plate 86 (see FIG. 7) is at the same height 87 above top ofrail (ATR) as the stub sill top cover plate 48 of previouslymanufactured car 20 shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 is a side elevation view of the stub sill 82 and body bolster 88of car 64. The body bolster 88, however, is offset downward from thestub sill 82. This is done by utilizing 28″ wheels on the underlyingtruck, as opposed to 33″ wheels used in previous cars. Also, the overallheight of the body bolster 88 is decreased as compared to the typicalbody bolster 34 of FIG. 3. This lowers the body bolster top cover plate90 so that it is vertically offset from the stub sill top cover plate86. The body bolster bottom cover plate 92 is also vertically offsetfrom the stub sill bottom flange 94.

The stub sill top cover plate 86 extends from the from coupler end 96longitudinally inboard toward the body bolster 88 and includes a bentportion 98 that bends downward to contact the body bolster top coverplate 90. The stub sill bottom flange 94 is similarly downwardly bent totransition into the body bolster bottom cover plate 92. Side webs 100 ofthe stub sill 82 are cut into a shape that includes a section affixed tothe downward sloping portions of the stub sill top cover plate 86 andthe stub sill bottom flange 94.

The body bolster top cover plate 90 further may include a downwardsloping portion 102 longitudinally inboard of the center plate 104. Thesloping portion of the body bolster top cover plate 90 allows the A deck106 of FIG. 5 to begin sloping downward closer to the center plate 104than was previously done in car 20 of FIG. 3. This allows for the hingedportion 107 of the overlying B deck 108 to be shortened as compared tothat in car 20. Shortening the hinging portion 106 decreases the weightof the hinged portion. The lighter weight means less force is needed tomove and support the hinged portion 106, thus simplifying anyhinging-assist mechanisms.

While an auto rack rail car 64 is shown as an example of utilizing boththe z-shaped bottom chord 66 of FIG. 4 (or the L-shaped bottom chord ofFIG. 5) and the offset body bolster 88 of FIGS. 6 and 7, any highwidth/high height well car would benefit from these structural elements.

Those skilled in the art recognize that the structures described hereincan be implemented in many different variations. Therefore, althoughvarious embodiments are specifically illustrated and described herein,it will be appreciated that modifications and variations of the presentinvention are covered by the above teachings and within the purview ofthe appending claims without departing from the spirit and intendedscope of the disclosure.

1. A rail road car comprising: a stub sill into which a coupler ismounted, the stub sill including a top cover plate having a firstportion at a first height and a second downwardly sloping portion; and abody bolster into which a center plate is mounted and including a topcover plate, the body bolster positioned adjacent to the stub sill,wherein the body bolster top cover plate is offset vertically lower fromthe first portion of the stub sill top cover plate.
 2. The rail road carof claim 1, wherein the stub sill includes a bottom flange having afirst portion at a first height and a downwardly sloping portion and thebody bolster includes a bottom cover plate, wherein a laterally centralportion of the body bolster bottom cover plate is offset verticallylower from the first portion of the stub sill bottom flange.
 3. The railroad car of claim 1, wherein the stub sill top cover plate extendshorizontally from the coupler toward the body bolster and includes abent section that slants vertically down to the body bolster top coverplate.
 4. The rail road car of claim 1, wherein the body bolster topcover plate includes a longitudinally inboard portion that slantsvertically downward.
 5. The rail road car of claim 1, wherein the bodybolster top cover plate is offset about 5 inches lower from the firstportion of the stub sill top cover plate.
 6. The rail road car of claim4, wherein the longitudinally inboard portion of the body bolster topcover plate has a longitudinally inboard edge that is about 6 incheslower than the stub sill top cover plate.
 7. The rail road car of claim1, wherein the rail road car is configured to carry multiple levels ofautomobiles or trucks.
 8. An auto rack rail road car comprising: Acoupler end stub sill with a top cover plate at a first height adjacentto a striker bar; and A body bolster with a center plate and a top coverplate, the top cover plate located at a second height lower than thefirst height.
 9. The auto rack rail road car of claim 8, furthercomprising an auto ramp extending from the stub sill downward into awell area that is at a height below the height of a bottom of the centerplate.
 10. A rail road car side assembly comprising: a formed channeltop chord; a side sheet extending downward from the top chord, the sidesheet including an inboardly slanting lower portion extending to abottom horizontal portion; and a z-shaped bottom chord having an upperhorizontal leg affixed to the inboardly slanting lower portion of theside sheet and a vertical portion affixed to an edge of the bottomhorizontal portion of the side sheet.
 11. The rail road car sideassembly of claim 10, wherein the z-shaped bottom chord includes a lowerhorizontal leg.
 12. A rail road car comprising: a side assemblycomprising: a formed channel top chord, a side sheet extending downwardfrom the top chord, the side sheet including an inboardly slanting lowerportion extending to a bottom horizontal portion, and a z-shaped bottomchord having an upper horizontal leg extending outboard affixed to theinboardly slanting lower portion of the side sheet, a vertical portionaffixed to an edge of the bottom horizontal portion of the side sheetand a lower horizontal leg extending inward; and a floor assemblyaffixed to an upper surface of the lower horizontal leg of the z-shapedbottom chord.
 13. An auto rack railroad car comprising: a lower deckpositioned between a pair of trucks having a lower surface about 15inches above a top of a rail when the car is empty; and a side assemblyaffixed to the lower deck, wherein the side assembly is positionedlaterally to align with AAR Proposed Clearance Plate K along an outersurface of the side assembly, the side assembly including a lowerstepped portion having a bottom horizontal surface above a lower steppedportion of Plate K and a vertical outboard surface positioned laterallyinboard of the stepped portion of Plate K.
 14. A rail road carcomprising a side assembly comprising: a formed channel top chord, aside sheet extending downward from the top chord, the side sheetincluding an inboardly slanting lower portion extending to a bottomhorizontal portion, and an L-shaped bottom chord having an upperhorizontal leg extending outboard affixed to the inboardly slantinglower portion of the side sheet and a vertical portion affixed to anedge of the bottom horizontal portion of the side sheet; and a floorassembly affixed to vertical portion of the L-shaped bottom chord.